PM Modi, President pay homage to Gandhi on 72nd death anniversary

New Delhi: The nation on Thursday remembered Mahatma Gandhi on his 72nd death anniversary with President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the country in paying homage to the Father of the Nation.

Kovind, Modi, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and former prime minister Manmohan Singh offered floral tributes at Gandhi's memorial Rajghat where an interfaith prayer meeting was held.

Amidst echoes of Gandhi's favourite bhajan 'Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram', Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal and BJP veteran L K Advani were among those who paid homage at Rajghat.

A gun salute was given at the memorial where school students and people from different walks of life gathered to pay respects to Bapu.

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs — Admiral Sunil Lanba, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria and General Manoj Mukund Naravane — were also present. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated here on this day in 1948.